|
 Top-notch first round matches. Unheralded winners. New faces. The end of an era. An international flavour. This tournament had a little bit of everything  - even a typically Spanish  hastily arranged, last minute change of venue!
Not only were players warmly welcomed and looked after at the Cornella Tennis Club, but they were also blessed with two days of perfect sunshine.   Players from three different continents participated in what would be the first Panteres Tennis event with Manel Gines, Yannis Blackburn and Fran Benitez at the helm.
The marquee event was the encounter between the number-two seed Marcello Soi and his Romanian rival Radu Belcota. The Italian, feisty as always, took the first set 7-6. He had his chances in the second, but tough as always, the Romanian would not give up, returning the favour by seizing the second set 7-6 and eventually going on to close out the tense super tie-break 10-5. Soi would go on, however, to win the consolation draw, defeating local veterans Pablo Ribó and Guille Reyes en route.
To be pipped at the post is always disappointing. Catalonia's Manel Gines can attest to this. After seeing off Miguel Angel Rodriguez in the R16, in the quarter finals he let slip a lead of 6-4 5-3 30-0 to be eventually outdone in the super tie-break by his arch nemesis Yannis Blackburn of Australia. Gines failed to capitalise on a match point in the super tie-break, after saving three himself. He was made to run ragged by his opponent throughout the second set, eventually capitulating 12-10.
The number-four seed, Hugo MÃguez of Argentina was also made to work extremely hard in his gruelling first round encounter against Spaniard Ricardo Belver. Another match that stretched beyond the two hour mark was highlighted by dogged defending and consistency by the Spaniard. The Argentinian, with his big weapons, matched the Spaniard in court speed and the sets were split 7-6 5-7 but eventually MÃguez prevailed 10-8 in the super tie-break.
MÃguez made it all the way to the final, where he lost to the top seed Francisco Gonzalez of Madrid.  Gonzalez didn't have everything his own way, having overcome Blackburn as well as Girona's Fran Benitez on the way to a hard-hitting, fast-paced finals victory against MÃguez. Apart from his runner-up trophy, MÃguez also received the award for the most surprising/most improved player, as voted by his peers. It must be noted that in the Semis Finals, MÃguez defeated another surprise packet in the form of Jordi De Dios, who had previously caused an upset by defeating Belcota.
The whittled down draw set up some mouth-watering clashes. González didn't completely annihilate his opposition and 6 of the 11 other matches went to a third set super-tie break! Roberto Ropero (Granada) and Francisco González, both making their second appearance, and Carlos Sánchez (Jeréz de la Frontera) playing his maiden tournament with, were just some new faces from further afield which helped mark what is hopefully a turning point in Panteres Tennis.
|
